Leonidas made a mental note of the name and entered the Knowledge Well. When he came back out, he nodded in approval.

The Water Body Talent lived up to its name. It allowed one’s body to become as free-flowing as water, gaining its flexibility and, especially, its immunity to attack, at least to a certain point.

Those with the Water Body Talent were immune to physical attacks and attacks that used Breath and Mana inferior to their Level. But, they were still vulnerable to energy-laced attacks at and above their level.

‘That’s what the full Talent can do, but this is just a fragment…’

Leonidas didn’t need to guess at it. Anabel was his Paladin so he could feel her limits as well and, in fact, better than his own.

‘I see. So she cannot turn into water like those with the full talent can, but her shock absorption ability has been raised to a sky-high level.’

From what Leonidas understood, Anabel’s body couldn’t turn into water, but it gained a great level of added flexibility and malleability.

If she was battling, then, the force of an attack would only be effectively half of its full strength thanks to her ability to distribute its power through her body and even into the ground beneath her.

Against large and powerful opponents like Lower Ogres, such a Bloodline Talent Fragment was invaluable.

This wasn’t all. Her Breath had gained the same characteristics, making it flexible and malleable, but also capable of retaining whatever form she chose. In that way, her Breath had become a lot more like Mana in its controllability.

In addition to this, Anabel would be naturally resistant to burns and the Fire Element.

‘Her weight has dropped considerably too.’

Anabel’s greatest talent previously had been her strength, but this drop in weight would give her an added speed and agility advantage as well while maintaining her same level of power.

Leonidas nodded in satisfaction. Gods weren’t so bad after all…

So long as they found you to be useful pawns.

He opened his eyes just to witness the carnage that Anabel had wrought.

The smell was horrid, his chest and palm were contaminated, and he suddenly didn’t want to stay in this room any longer.

So, he didn’t.

He picked Anabel up by a relatively clean part of her armor, holding her out like a stink bomb. Then left these living quarters to claim another.

…

Leonidas placed Anabel into a bath, stripping himself of all his clothing as well. He wanted nothing to do with what they had been wearing previously, it was all ruined.

His irises flashed with a swiftly completed Magic Circle and Mana Hand activated, allowing him to toss the dirtied clothing into a bin he would find a way to incinerate later.

‘That takes up quite a bit of Mana, exponentially more depending on the distance. It needs to be optimized a lot more if I’m to use it in battle…’

Reaching into his pouch of potions, Leonidas pulled out one that he was looking forward to using but hadn’t gotten a chance to just yet.

Its name was simple, the Bathing Potion. It made water more effective at cleaning waste with minimal effort and left behind no lingering scent.

He poured the bottle into the bath and the effect was near immediate.

The accumulating dirt and foul stench vanished without a trace, delicate motes of light swallowing them up and cleansing them.

Leonidas dipped his hands into the bath to clean them before helping the sleeping Anabel to wet her hair through.

Once he was satisfied with her state, he propped her up to soak for a while longer before stepping into the shower himself. He kept an eye out for Anabel to make sure she wouldn’t drown, but he was also eager to clean himself up.

Leonidas let the waters run over him, exhaling a deep breath.

If he had been capable of displaying that emotion, he would be grinning ear to ear. The matter with Lady Eve was unfortunate, but these past two days had not only been thrilling beyond measure, they had also filled him with an anticipation for his growth and the future.

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Goddess Yves keeping such a close eye on him was troublesome, but he chose not to worry about it for now.

The spirit hadn’t been lying when he said that gathering enough Blessings to form his first Shadow would be a tall task. Leonidas only had a small understanding of what a Shadow was, but he did know he would have to at least be a Level 7 Priest before he even began to consider gathering up that number of Blessings.

And that was just for one’s first Shadow. Each subsequent Shadow formed required an exponential amount more.

This was to say that Leonidas would be under Goddess Yves for a long while, why not take advantage of her kindness?

Leonidas’ mind wandered and his cleaning regimen eventually led back to his tail.

The wound Milon’s arrow had left was still there and quite fresh. It was a good thing he hadn’t used poison, or else the result would be far worse.

Even now including Mana Shield, Leonidas’ tail was considered to be his best defense weapon. He would have to protect it better in the future.

After cleaning the wound and the dried blood left behind, Leonidas finished up the rest.

All things considered, thanks to the thickness of his fur, the wound was quite shallow. Beneath Goddess Yves’ Blessing, it was already almost entirely healed.

Just as Leonidas felt that it was time to step out, his ears twitched and the sound of splashing waters and light footsteps caught his attention before two short arms wrapped tightly around his waist.

The bathroom of an Apostle’s living quarters was a lot more like a bath house. The floors were covered in tiles and several drains dotted the ground. The shower was a waterfall-like sprinkler attached to the ceiling without any wooden or glass barriers around it, meaning there was no separation between the bath and shower.

The entire room was wet and moist, and it had a refreshing scent hanging in the air, the kind perfectly synonymous with cleanliness.

Anabel didn’t say anything for a long time, simply holding onto Leonidas tightly.

She wasn’t a fool. She could feel the power coursing through her body, power the likes of which she had never experienced before.

It felt like she could crush boulders and jump to the clouds, as though everything was in the palm of her hands.

Anabel was never a person who sought power for herself, but she had always trained hard for the sake of her family. They had given her everything she had today and had saved her from the fate of many other women her age, how could she not repay them?

After she was taken by the Rardins, her life was plunged into despair. However, it wasn’t entirely for the sake of herself.

Leonidas’ life and death were unknown with the trial looming, and her family had lost what could have been their greatest supporter. The worst part was that her sacrifice had meant nothing, she hadn’t been able to repay their kindness at all.

When Leonidas so suddenly came in and saved her, there seemed to be a light at the end of the tunnel, but then she sensed the change in his relationship with Lady Eve.

That day she first met Leonidas, hadn’t Lady Eve been there as well? For all Anabel knew, their relationship had always been so close and she was just the stupid pawn that had tried to get in the way.

But then she had a dream, a dream where all her hopes and aspirations were fulfilled.

And somehow that dream had followed her into reality.

She held onto Leonidas so tightly not only because she was endlessly grateful, but also because she still didn’t quite believe it. She needed to grab onto something solid, something rooted and strong, something that couldn’t possibly be faked by a pitiful dream.

Leonidas hadn’t said a word as she sobbed despite her knowing he could hear her. He hadn’t said a word as she fell asleep in his embrace. He didn’t address her hurt, or her pain. But with his actions alone, he had blown it all away.

Anabel wiped her tears onto Leonidas’ back, using the running water to wash them away. Right now, she didn’t care about anything else, she only wanted to be with this man. She wouldn’t allow her emotions to ruin it.

She pressed herself even more firmly into his back, making sure that he could feel every soft curve of her body.

Leonidas could already sense a pulsing heat in his lower belly. Maybe she was always naturally like this, or maybe it was because of her newly awakened Bloodline Talent Fragment…

It had been hard to focus on this softness while he was carrying her before with how dirtied and tired she had been, but now Leonidas could feel it in full force.

Anabel ran her small hands across Leonidas’ toned torso, relishing in the solid wall she almost wanted to melt herself into.

She had been forced into the role of conservative woman all her life, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have lustful dreams and fantasies of her own, and Leonidas…

Anabel wrapped around Leonidas’ frame, eventually standing chest to chest with him, her round face looking up into those deep, crimson eyes.

… checked every single one of those boxes.

Tall. Dark. Handsome. Powerful. Bestial.

Anabel felt two strong arms lift her up, those powerful hands nearly deforming her plump ass as she was lifted to eye level.

Leonidas’ gaze roamed Anabel’s body. She seemed to have become all the more enticing.

Her body was still streamlined and powerful, but also carried with it a feminine charm and softness. Her thighs felt like clouds wrapping about his waist, her breasts like two doughy pillows that somehow also reminded Leonidas of searing irons pressed against his chest. However, there was no place more inviting than the dripping treasure between her legs.

Even amidst all the falling waters, Leonidas’ cock could feel the difference.

It stood at attention as though it had a mind of its own, lightly pressing against Anabel’s delicate folds and threatening to pierce her through.

The liquids that fell from it were far more fragrant, far more viscous, like the essential oils of a Goddess gliding down his shaft.

Anabel’s hips vibrated with anticipation, her arms wrapping around Leonidas’ neck and her lips pressing onto his own.

A wave of shock shot through her spine as she felt just a portion glide into her. While her body acclimated to the novel stimuli, her limbs trembled, her eyes fluttering and her teeth involuntarily biting at Leonidas’ lower lip.

Her anticipation was so high that she couldn’t even feel pain. Months of teasing and hoping, of imagining this moment and replaying it again and again.

And yet even her imagination couldn’t have possibly thought it would be this good.

The sensation of being stretched and entered pulled at the strings of her heart.

“Oh, Goddess…”

The sensation only seemed to get more and more intense. Every time she thought Leonidas had already gone as deep as he could, he continued.

Her toes curled, her fingers flexed and her eyes rolled back, her bite on Leonidas’ lip releasing only for the sake of gasps and moans, only for them to be quickly stifled by a strong and oppressive tongue.

Anabel’s mind went blank.

She didn’t know how long it went on for but she happily took her position as a passenger on a boat in a raging storm.

Her fragrant juices dripped to the ground, her orgasms rolling in like waves.

Thoughts of her duty and pleasure became mixed until she eventually couldn’t tell the difference any longer. By the end, duty didn’t seem to matter at all.